Arlington Billion Pick 3

This sequence starts in race 8.

It would be great to beat Paddy O' Prado here. In fact I feel that if you can not beat Paddy it is best to pass the sequence. I decided to single Wigmore Hall in this spot and hope for that Euro form is trump.

Race 9 Bev D.
Seems like a wide open race Rainbow View is a SCR. Will hit the all button and save the strategy for the morning handball game.

Race 10
Gio Ponti is much, much, much the best here on his B game. Counting on him to bring it home.

Pick 3 - 4 / ALL / 6

The turning point

This is the time of the year when championships are decided. On Saturday, there are key divisional races being held including the Alabama Stakes and the Arlington Million with its support cast of the Secretariat Stakes and the Beverly D Stakes.

Alabama Stakes

After months of slow buildup and races leading to this moment there will be a winner decided, too bad this line isn't being used for Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. The Alabama has two showcase names in the three year old fillies division squaring off, Devil May Care and Blind Luck. Blind Luck should have been voted best juvenile filly of 2009 based on her dominating win in the Hollywood Starlet and Oak Leaf win, but that is last year. So far she has done little wrong in 2010 with four graded stakes wins on both synthetic and dirt, her last win she was all out to defeat Havre de Grace on a sloppy Delaware strip with a final time that bested stakes colts that ran earlier by nearly two seconds. Outside of the Derby misadventure from Devil May Care she has scored easy wins in the Coaching Club American Oaks, Mother Goose, and Bonnie Miss.

The Tomlinson pedigree figure does show something revealing about the six fillies that are entered in the Alabama and that is their lack of stamina pedigree. None of them have a figure near 320, the highest is Devil May Care with 288 (no longshot angle there). For the contrarian bettors Havre de Grace could be of interest with four works (two of which are bullets) since her last start and the pace advantage of breaking from the outside in a small field.

Arlington Million Day

Gio Ponti returns from his narrow victory in the Man O' War on July 10 to face mostly American opposition in the Arlington Million. Only three of the ten entered are making the trip from Europe to run in this race and the American runners with the exception of Gio Ponti would have a tough time against international competition, which exposes the weaknesses of the turf racing in North America. Just to drive the point across, most years all a European invader has to do is win the Breeder's Cup Turf and they win the eclipse award for best turf horse.

The Secretariat has Paddy O'Prado as its main attraction and the Beverly D could very be confused with a Grade 3 race any other weekend. If they didn't have the Secretariat, we could have had a Million that had Paddy O'Prado and a few other of the turf standouts from the three year old division in the entries. The Secretariat has worked against the Million like this in the past, in 2006 Showing up dominated his three year old rivals in the Secretariat and with The Tin Man wiring the Million field that year you could have made a case that Showing Up would have won the Million if entered for that event. Kitten's Joy won the Secretariat in 2004 and ended up dominating the competition that primarily ran in the Million later on in the Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont that October.

The Odyssey of I Want Revenge

I Want Revenge maybe running underneath the radar this weekend with all of the high class racing taking place elsewhere. This is his second start since scratching out of the 2009 Derby is the Iselin Handicap and the competition isn't going to be any easier in this round, Redding Colliery is having a very good year and is coming off a convincing score in the Lone Star Park Handicap. Chances are I Want Revenge will probably go to the Jockey Club Gold Cup from this race due to the spacing of the races. It would be nice to see a win out of I Want Revenge in this race followed by starts in the Woodward, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Breeders Cup Classic, and the Cigar Mile. If a horse was to run the table with those races at the end of the year, it would be hard to deny them Horse of the Year, just throwing that out there.

The Monmouth prep for this race was the Salvatore Mile and ended up being a very slow edition of the race in contrast to recent runnings that had Lawyer Ron lose to Gotcha Gold who set a track record time in 2007 and Coal Play a fifth of a second away from that record in 2009. This year's edition had fractions of 25, 50, 1:14, and a final time of 1:38. That is a great time for a one mile and seventy yards race, but not so much for a one mile race. Duke of Mischief and Gone Astray are coming out of this race, I don't see either taking a lot of play in the Iselin Handicap

The next three weekends are loaded with important division altering races that will have an impact on this year's Breeders Cup and it will be interesting to see how things shape up in the next few weeks.

Arlington Million Trip Report

After my first visit to Arlington I can understand why Al Capone made the move from Brooklyn to Chicago. Not only was Chicago a helluva town but Arlington is a top-class racing venue and everyone I dealt with was helpful and professional. This facility was clean, modern and meticulously maintained. From the well landscaped grounds to the clean bathrooms and immaculate paddock everything looked like a classy facility, not just a great racetrack. I have to spot Arlington right under Keeneland as the number two racing facility in North America.









View of the track from the clubhouse turn

Track had a majestic entrance gate, it looked like you were driving through an entrance to a stud farm or perhaps an estate. The grounds leading up to the clubhouse entrance were landscaped with an abundance of fresh flowers and just cut shrubbery. My $25 seat to the Arlington million not only provided a place to sit but also free parking, a program and track admission.









A glossy program is included with admission at Arlington











Secretariat Starting gate

The Arlington Million racing program is one of the premiere racing cards of the year in North America. If you a fan of turf racing, these are your kind of races. I posted a pick 3 that threw the kitchen sink at the sequence but failed to hit. Take The Points surprised me as I expected him to regress off tough races but did the opposite and ran a huge race under Desormeaux to take the Secretariat Stakes. This was the first time that Desormeaux had won a graded stakes for Todd Pletcher. The Aiden O'Brien shipper Black Bear Island ran well for second. Desormeaux collected a stakes double when Dynaforce stalked the pace a forget to quit in the Beverly D.









Bev D Starting Gate

Before the Arlington Million the Brazilian bred Gloria De Campeao put on a show in the parade. For about 10 minutes he ran around with his head about one foot off the ground and cocked to left with his mouth wide open teeth exposed like a rabid dog. I don't know what he was doing but it didn't look like he had his mind on racing. This was a long way to come for a horse to go out and goof around on the track like a big baby. The classy and talented Gio Ponti solidified his position as the top turf horse with his forth grade I win in a row. He looked tremendous in the paddock and Clemente looked confident as he saddled him. Gio Ponti looked like he made the lead early at the top of the lane and might be caught late. However as soon as the competition came to him he found another gear and took off again. Gio Ponti won deceptively easily. This is a classy colt that will return for a five year old campaign. Arc de Triomphe 2010 for Gio Ponti?
















Arlington Tote Board Where All The Numbers Work














Always A Sign Of A Great Track Is An Immaculate Paddock














Another Paddock Shot














Pacesetter Hoosier Kingdom king Before The Secretariat Stakes















ESPN Talent On-Hand














Paddock Statue Of The Bart & John Henry in Arlington Million I














P.S. On the way home at O'Hare airport I met hall of fame jockey Gary Stevens on the Hertz rent a car shuttle. It was only the two of us on the bus. He was a really nice guy and was happy to talk about the races with a fan.

Descending On The Arlington Million

Like Al Capone before me a Brooklyn born Mediterranean-American is heading to Chicago to make it big in gambling. Capone took over the Chicago underworld, I'm just looking to take in the sights and hopefully hit the all-stakes pick 3. The consensus is that Arlington is one of the best venues to enjoy American horse racing. After many years of watching the Arlington Million on TV and wishing I was there I have finally committed a summer weekend to visiting Chicago and attending America's best turf race.

All stakes pick 3

The highlight of the Arlington Million program is the all-turf all-stakes pick 3.

Secretariat Stakes
The morning like favorite is Giant Oak, he looks live enough to be a tough toss but he can be beat. He had a tough trip last out and could redeem himself here. The winner of the American Derby Reb ran his eyeballs out and is a must user. Leparoux called him green after the last win so there is room for improvement. Oil Man caused all the trouble last out but is another user second time over the course. The bomb pick here is Laureate Conductor; an improving colt for the sharp Clemente barn. Using four colts here; 4,5,8,10

Beverly D
Using three girl horses here, the favorite Pure Clan and will throw in Dynaforce as well who could improve second time over the surface. The bomb pick is again ridden by Dominguez; the Canadian invader Points Og Grace. Using 2,3,7

Arlington Million
The favorite here is Gio Ponti and while he has been brilliant all year asking him to win his forth is a row is a tall order. He will be used defensively. Einstein has had another smart year and this classy horse is a winner and must be used. The other two I am going to cover are European shippers, Gloria De Campeao and Cima de Triomphe. Using 1,6,7,8

All stakes pick 3 draft 4,5,8,10 / 2,3,7 / 1,6,7,8 = $48 (I didn't travel 800 miles to rip tickets/if I covered too many so be it)

Dubai World Cup Winner Curlin to the Turf?

Tremendous performance by Curlin in the Dubai World Cup manhandling his opponents with ease. He won with absolute authority, so dominate that John Murtagh said. "The winner is a monster." After wins in the Breeders Cup Classic and now Dubai World Cup Curlin has very little to prove on the dirt. The trainer and owner seem to be the sporting kind of connections that the game dearly needs. Racing fans should be pleased that the connections are harvesting the rewards of keeping Curlin in training. This sets a positive precedent for other connections to race their top class American horses past the sophomore season. Many horses have pulled off the Breeders Cup/Dubai World Cup double. Why not do something exciting that will distinguish Curlin as one of the greatest Thoroughbred racehorses ever? Now that Curlin has absolutely proven his dominance in the worlds two biggest dirt races why not try the turf?



A turf campaign would be an exciting close to Curlin's career and a conquest that would endear him to a worldwide audience. Possible targets could be the Arlington Million, then a ship to France for a prep and then the Arc De Triomphe. Here is the best part for team Curlin there is no pressure if they try the grass. When Curlin runs in the Arlington Million, he has a built in excuse as a dirt horse so there is little pressure to perform well. However if Curlin dominates on the turf like I suspect he will , his reputation raises exponentially without any risk. This horse is so good and so classy that he is like racing legends such as Dr. Fager, Round Table, John Henry and Secretariat, these are horses that could transfer dominant dirt form into world class turf form. Running the table on this schedule would lock the Dubai World Cup winner as one of the greatest of all time. Why has no American horse taken on the challenge of the Arc? Curlin is the first American horse that is up to the challenge in some time. Jess Jackson is proud to be a fourteenth generation American, and as a wine making mogul how satisfying would it be for him to bring home Europe's greatest race? Alexander the Great did not become Alexander the Great by sacking the Sardis over and over. Alexander expanded his territory and took on new challenges. Curlin has the potential to be Curlin the great if the connections have the courage to take on new challenges.